Three Kansans Indicted for Armed Robbery at Excelsior Springs Bank

Three Kansans Indicted for Armed Robbery at Excelsior Springs Bank

KANSAS CITY, MO—Tammy Dickinson, United States Attorney for the Western District of Missouri, announced that three Kansas City, Kansas residents were indicted by a federal grand jury today for the armed robbery of an Excelsior Springs, Missouri bank.

Virginia Lynn Spencer, 28; her brother, Charles Ralph Spencer, 24; and Steven Dale Robinson, 22, all of Kansas City, Kansas, were charged in a two-count indictment returned by a federal grand jury in Kansas City, Missouri. Today’s indictment replaces a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Virginia Spencer and Steven Robinson on May 27, 2014, and a federal criminal complaint that was filed against Charles Spencer on May 29, 2014. All three defendants remain detained in federal custody.

Virginia and Charles Spencer and Robinson are each charged in one count of aiding and abetting each other to steal $11,883 at gunpoint from Bank Midwest, 201 N. Jesse James Rd., Excelsior Springs, on May 23, 2014. Virginia and Charles Spencer are also charged together with one count of aiding and abetting each other to brandish a firearm during the robbery.

According to an affidavit filed in support of the original federal criminal complaint, Virginia and Charles Spencer entered the bank at about 5:30 p.m. Charles Spencer allegedly stood in the lobby and pointed a Rossi .32-caliber revolver in the air with his finger on the trigger. They ordered bank employees to sit on the floor, the affidavit says, and then Virginia Spencer dove on top of the middle lobby teller counter and began opening the tellers drawers in search of money. Spencer pulled herself over the counter and went behind the teller counter, the affidavit says, before jumping back over the counter while holding a bag.

Both robbers ran from the bank, according to the affidavit, with Virginia Spencer saying, “Have a nice day” on her way out.

A bank customer, who had just conducted a transaction at the ATM with her three children in the vehicle, drove around toward the front of the bank to leave the parking lot. She saw Robinson sitting in the driver’s seat of a Grand Marquis that was backed in near the bank’s front doors at an angle, the affidavit says. The two robbers ran out the bank’s front doors and got into the vehicle. The vehicle quickly left the Bank Midwest parking lot, narrowly missing the customer’s vehicle. She immediately called 911 on her cell phone and reported the vehicle’s direction of travel.

Clay County Sheriff’s deputies saw the vehicle near 69 Highway and Lightburn Road. A pursuit followed, and the robbers’ vehicle crashed near Kings Highway and Dam Road in Liberty, Missouri. Virginia Spencer and Robinson were arrested at the scene and Charles Spencer was hospitalized as a result of the crash.

Law enforcement officers found a bag containing $11,883 on the front floorboard of the vehicle.

Dickinson cautioned that the charges contained in this indictment are simply accusations and not evidence of guilt. Evidence supporting the charges must be presented to a federal trial jury, whose duty is to determine guilt or innocence.

This case is being prosecuted by Assistant U.S. Attorney Justin G. Davids. It was investigated by the FBI, the Clay County, Missouri Sheriff’s Department; and the Excelsior Springs, Missouri Police Department.